NEWARK — Security was tight outside the Newark Memorial High School gym on Monday, and no backpacks were allowed in as hundreds of high school students from around Silicon Valley gathered to discuss gun violence with two congressmen and one local celebrity — Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
The town hall-style meeting comes nearly a month after the high school massacre in Parkland, Fla., and two days before scores of Bay Area schools plan to join Wednesday’s walkout to protest gun violence. If Monday’s gathering in Newark was intended to recognize and unleash the emerging power of teenagers almost old enough to vote, the students came ready to ask questions about the future of school safety and federal gun control legislation.